Monthly Archives: April 2010

Voters Hate Government Medicine; How About Immigration?

The Democrats are in deep trouble on the health care issue. Voters’ opposition to Obamacare isn’t going away, if anything, it might be intensifying. Rasmussen finds that 58% of likely voters favor repeal of the health care takeover law, with only 38% opposed to repeal. A remarkable 47% strongly favor repeal. This is why: Sixty percent (60%) of voters nationwide believe the new law will increase the federal budget deficit, »

Might Patty Murray soon truly be “just a mom in tennis shoes”?

It is pretty well understood that Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) is in trouble if Dino Rossi decides to run against her this year. But polling data suggests that Murray may be in trouble period. Survey USA has her trailing Rossi by 52 perent to 42 percent. But it also has her failing to exceed 46 percent against any of her potential opponents: Patty Murray (D) — 46% Don Benton (R) »

General Jones apologizes

Politico reports that National Security Advisor James Jones has issued a formulaic apology for the bad joke with which he prefaced his speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy: “I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it,” Jones said. “It also distracted from the larger message I carried »

Robert Ehrlich — not the no-hoper the Washington Post hopes he is

Robert Ehrlich, Maryland’s former Republican governor, is running this year against the man who defeated him in 2006, Gov. Martin O’Malley. Any Republican who runs a state-wide race in Maryland faces an uphill battle, but Ehrlich has several advantages. First, he was a reasonably popular governor, with a positive approval rating. He lost not because he was considered a bad governor, but because 2006 was a bad year for Republicans »

Don’t leave it to Cleaver, part 9

I have been meaning to write a wrap-up in our miniseries on the Democratic fabrication captured in the March 20 McClatchy headline: “Tea party protesters scream ‘nigger’ at black congressmen.” Andrew Breitbart has beaten me to the punch with his review of the evidence in “No more beer summits: Tea Party ‘N’ word incident didn’t happen, and the Congressional Black Caucus owes America an apology.” Andrew has also posted a »

A Violent Demonstration

Violence broke out at a political demonstration over the weekend, as protesters chased police officers, pelting them with rocks and bottles. Was this a gang of Tea Partiers running amok, as eagerly awaited by so many liberals? Well, no. The demonstration was at the state capitol in Arizona, against that state’s new immigration statute: Have you seen a lot of consternation in the press about this violent demonstration? No, neither »

Mark Falcoff: The turn against Castro

Mark Falcoff is resident scholar emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Cuba: The Morning After — Confronting Castro’s Legacy. He has previously written for us on “the romance with Castro.” While the romance continues in the Obama administration, the ardor has cooled in some other quarters. Mark writes: While the Obama administration searches around frantically for ways to kiss and make-up with the Castro dictatorship in Cuba »

And now, the Jared Allen app

St. Paul Pioneer Press sportswriter Bob Sansevere brings us the good news of the new iPhone application released by Minnesota Vikings defensive star Jared Allen. It features an unusual combination of patriotism and mullets. Here, according to Allen’s page on the iTunes Web site, is what you will find in the new app: History of all American flags. There’s been more than one flag, so be a real American and »

Have you heard the one about the Jewish merchant?

It’s been a long time since I heard a joke like this, and I’m quite sure it wasn’t one told in public by a senior administration official before a high-minded audience. This joke was delivered by Obama administration National Security Advisor James Jones before an audience at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy: A Taliban militant gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally »

A fairy tale of GM (and its masters)

I wrote here yesterday about GM chairman and chief executive officer Ed Whitacre’s fraudulent Wall Street Journal column. The Washington Times takes up the subject in a reported editorial today. The Times gets comments from Obama administration officials on TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky’s statement that the funds with which GM paid off its government loan (putting to one side the $50 billioin or so the government has sunk into »

Bleeping Muhammad, part 2

Big Journalism’s pseudonymous Frank Ross observes that the sound you’re not hearing is the media, holed up in their towers along Sixth Avenue and across the street from the old Show World Center porn palace on Eighth Avenue, noisily rising to the defense of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the South Park creators who recently upset the tender Muslim sensibilities of this guy: “That would be Zachary Chesser,” Ross explains, »

The face-saving process

As I noted last night, George Mitchell, President Obama’s envoy to the Middle East, has wrapped up his latest diplomatic mission without getting the Palestinians to agree even to indirect peace talks with Israel. The problem for Mitchell is that the parties are at an impasse — the PA says it won’t talk, even indirectly, unless Israel agrees not to build in East Jerusalem, while Israel says the idea of »

“The Loser Letters” — a winner

I still remember my last argument about whether God exists. It was sophomore year in college, and I was attempting to weave a convoluted proof that He does. John Hinderaker told me I was “giving metaphysics a bad name.” Nowadays, much is once again being written on this subject – not just on the internet but also between hard covers. I haven’t been reading it, though. I figure one either »

What’s Polarizing

CNN reports on Arizona’s new statute that makes illegal immigration a state crime. CNN’s theme: “Immigration law polarizes Arizonans.” These days, Jessica Mejia doesn’t leave the house without three pieces of identification to prove her citizenship. Mejia, a University of Arizona student who was born and raised in Tucson, says the habit formed last week, after a series of raids in Arizona targeting illegal immigrants. And now, a new state »

This day in soccer history

25 years ago today, Everton defeated Bayern Munich 3-1 in a match that the club’s fans have voted the greatest ever at Goodison Park. The victory sent Everton into the finals of the European Cup Winners Cup, which we proceeded to win handily against Rapid Wien (Vienna). The Cup Winners Cup tournament (now defunct) was for the winners of the previous year’s European domestic cups. It always included great teams »

The audacity of (treating us like we’re a) dope

General Motors chairman and chief executive officer Ed Whitacre took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal last week to announce “The GM bailout: Paid back in full.” Whitacre wrote: “General Motors is announcing that it has made a payment of $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada. We’re paying back–in full, with interest, years ahead of schedule–loans made to help fund the new GM.” Sounds »

How high the moon?

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Ella Fitzgerald. She was a remarkable artist. Each period of her long career is rewarding, though she deepened her art as she got older. She excelled in a wide variety of material and in every musical setting. There is an emotional reserve or detachment in her singing, but there is also joy and an irrepressible sense of fun in her approach. The »